Ten Steps to Building College Reading Skills, 4/e (previous edition)
Key Features
• Focus on the basics.
The book seeks to explain, in an extremely clear, step-by-step way, the essential elements of each skill. Many examples are provided to ensure that students understand each point. In general, the focus is on teaching the skills—not just on explaining them and not just on testing them.
• Frequent practice and feedback.
Because it is largely through abundant practice and careful feedback that progress is made, this book includes numerous activities. Students can get immediate feedback on the practice exercises in Part I by turning to the limited answer key at the back of the book. The answers to the review and mastery tests in Part I, the reading questions in Part II, and the combined-skills tests in Part III are in the Instructor’s Manual.
The limited answer key increases the active role that students take in their own learning. They are likely to use the answer key in an honest and positive way if they know they will be tested on the many activities and selections for which answers are not provided. (Answers not in the book can be easily copied from the Instructor’s Edition or the Instructor’s Manual and passed out at the teacher’s discretion.)
• High interest level.
Dull and unvaried readings and exercises work against learning. Students need to experience genuine interest and enjoyment in what they read. Teachers as well should be able to take pleasure in the selections, for their own good feeling about them can carry over favorably into class work. The readings in the book, then, have been chosen not only for the appropriateness of their reading level but also for their compelling content. They should engage teachers and students alike.
• Ease of use.
The logical sequence in each chapter—from explanation to example to practice to review test to mastery test—helps make the skills easy to teach. The book’s organization into distinct parts also makes for ease of use. Within a single class, for instance, teachers can work on a new skill in Part I, review other skills with one or more mastery tests, and provide variety by having students read one of the selections in Part II. The limited answer key at the back of the text also makes for versatility: it means that the teacher can assign some chapters for self-teaching. Finally, the mastery tests—each on its own tear-out page—and the combined-skills tests make it a simple matter for teachers to test and evaluate student progress.
• Integration of skills.
Students do more than learn the skills individually in Part I. They also learn to apply the skills together through the reading selections in Parts I and II and the material on active reading in Part III. They become effective readers and thinkers by means of a good deal of practice in applying a combination of skills.
• Online exercises.
As they complete each of the ten chapters, students are invited to go online to the Townsend Press website to work on two additional practice exercises for each skill—exercises that reinforce the skill taught in the chapter.
• Thinking activities.
Thinking activities—in the form of outlining, mapping, and summarizing—are a distinctive feature of the book. While educators agree that such organizational abilities are important, these skills are all too seldom taught. From a practical standpoint, it is almost impossible for a teacher to respond in detail to entire collections of class outlines or maps. This book then, presents activities that truly involve students in outlining, mapping, and summarizing—in other words, that truly make students think—and yet enable a teacher to give feedback. Again, it is through continued practice and feedback on challenging material that a student becomes a more effective reader and thinker.
In addition, the final chapter in Part One, “The Basics of Argument,” provides extensive explanation and practice in the concepts of point and support that are central to critical thinking.
• Supplementary materials.
The three helpful supplements listed below are available at no charge to instructors using the text. Any or all can be obtained quickly by calling Townsend Press (1-800-772-6410), by sending a fax to 1-800-225-8894, or by e-mailing Customer Service at cs@townsendpress.com.
• An Instructor’s Edition—is identical to the student book except that it also provides hints for teachers, answers to all the practices and tests, and comments on most answers. No other book on the market has such detailed and helpful annotations.
• A combined Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank includes suggestions for teaching the course, a model syllabus, and readability levels for the text and the reading selections. The test bank contains four additional mastery tests for each of the ten skills and four additional combined-skills tests—all on letter-sized sheets so they can be copied easily for use with students.
• The Online Learning Center. A powerful and free web-based resource, the Learning Center features exercises, tests, PowerPoint files, and an electronic (PDF) edition of the Instructor's Manual and Test Bank to accompany this book. Along with these materials, the Learning Center allows instructors to assign online activities, monitor students' progress, and record their work electronically. Learn more here.
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